As is well known, Bono bought part of Forbes magazine through his interest in Elevation Partners, a private equity firm.
Bono is, as is now well known, a fan of tax avoidance. The New York Times, amongst others, have noticed that fact.
So it’s no surprise to find Bono’s rag promoting tax havens as a panacea in an article published today. Take this as an example of the attitude:
Monaco and Gibraltar are among our most miniscule tax havens, but there’s no need to feel confined. If you tire of the gambling, sunbathing and nightclubbing to be had in Monaco itself — which may take a while — the French Riviera is just a short convertible drive away.
And how is this life of excess paid for? Easy! As Bono’s rag says:
[There] may be luxury prices, but it’s a small price to pay for the tax breaks. Non-profit group Tax Justice Network estimates that offshore tax havens shielded over $255 billion in global tax revenue in 2006, a number roughly equal to a third of India’s overall GDP.
So there we have it. Bono’s rag takes our work on the links between tax havens and poverty so seriously that it uses it to promote the tax havens. That’s a definition of moral bankruptcy if ever I saw one.
2 Comments
I am afraid the duplicity of Bono and his friends at G8 is trpical of the rhetoric of the global north’s attitude, historically poor policy and corruption, leading to ever increasing poverty and debt in third world countries.
Moral bankruptcy indeed. I have added this shameful hypocrisy to his otherwise (self?) congratulatory wikipedia page.
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[...] Who is Fred’s partner in Elevation Partners? Well, it’s Bono, of course. He has a knack for picking people. He’s bought into Forbes, and here he’s got a man who pays out over $3.5 million for doing nothing wrong. Just like you do. [...]
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